The indigenous peoples of Peru and the struggles for land

This is the topic of a discussion, based on a book written by Peruvian activist Hugo Blanco, that will be launched on 5th June, an event organised by London Socialist Resistance.

What are the struggles experienced in Latin America in terms of land rights, decolonisation and justice for indigenous peoples? How do they inform the political strategy for revolutionaries in Europe?

Hugo Blanco’s essays in “We the Indians – The indigenous peoples of Peru and the struggles for land” are a reflexion on politics based on his long life of struggle. In the early 1960s, he led a peasant uprising in Peru for land rights in the early 1960s and at the age of 83 he is still politically active.

Hugo Blanco recognises that armed defence, electoral politics, and nonviolent struggles all have a place. But he also sees that the construction of community institutions can lead to revolutionary transformation. Having been a member of parliament in Peru, he is sceptical of prioritising purely electoral politics but is aware that it can open space for more radical change.

“We the Indians”, published by Resistance Books, is the first English edition of a book previously published in Spanish, and has an introduction by Eduardo Galeano. Read here a review of the book by Derek Wall.

The discussion will be led by Derek Wall, Jeff Webber and Terry Conway.

Wall is a former Green party principal speaker, who teaches political economy at Goldsmiths College, University of London and is currently working on a political biography of Hugo Blanco. He is the author of “Elinor Ostrom’s rules for radicals: cooperative alternatives beyond markets and states” and “Economics after capitalism: A guide to the ruins and a road to the future”.

Webber teaches politics and international relations at Queen Mary, University of London. He sits on the editorial board of Historical Materialism, and is the author of “Red October: left-indigenous struggles in modern Bolivia” and “The last day of oppression, and the first day of the same: the politics and economics of the new Latin American left”.